Table of Contents

New Jersey Childhood Obesity Study, 2009-2010 (ICPSR 34364)

Principal Investigator(s):Yedidia, Michael, Rutgers University Center for State Health Policy

Summary:

This survey was conducted as part of the New Jersey Childhood Obesity Study, a project designed to provide vital information for planning, implementing, and evaluating interventions aimed at preventing childhood obesity in five New Jersey municipalities: Camden, Newark, New Brunswick, Trenton, and Vineland. Conducted among households with 3-18 year old children in the 5 cities, the survey interviewed the adult who made most of the decisions about food shopping in each household. The survey examined perceptions about food and physical activity e... (more info)

This survey was conducted as part of the New Jersey Childhood Obesity Study, a project designed to provide vital information for planning, implementing, and evaluating interventions aimed at preventing childhood obesity in five New Jersey municipalities: Camden, Newark, New Brunswick, Trenton, and Vineland. Conducted among households with 3-18 year old children in the 5 cities, the survey interviewed the adult who made most of the decisions about food shopping in each household. The survey examined perceptions about food and physical activity environments in the five cities, investigated barriers related to access to healthy food and physical activity facilities, and collected information on the height and weight and food and physical activity behaviors of the cities' 3-18 year old children and the adult respondents. In addition, the survey collected demographic information about the household members.

Four linkable datasets contain the survey data: the Household File, Index Child File, Adult File, and All Child File. The Household File covers household and neighborhood characteristics, while the Index Child File describes the characteristics and behaviors of a randomly selected 3-18 year old child in the household, who is designated the "index child" and is the primary unit of analysis. The Adult File comprises characteristics and behaviors of the adult respondent, and, lastly, the All Child File covers a few characteristics of all children aged 3-18 in the household.

Guidelines for Applying for Restricted Data

Before you begin an application you will need the following information to complete the form

General Requirements:

appointment at research institution; appointment must be under the jurisdiction of the receiving institution

degree requirements (possibly doctorate)

Must be submitted:

project description

IRB approval

approved security plan

roster of research and IT staff who can access or view the data or computer where data are hosted.

confidentiality pledges for all people on roster

Some require:

CV's

As explained in the ICPSR Processing Note in the codebook, for reasons of confidentiality, ICPSR restricted from general dissemination the All Child File and many variables in the Household, Index Child, and Adult Files. Users interested in obtaining these restricted data must complete an Agreement for the Use of Confidential Data, specify the reasons for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research. Apply for access to these data through the ICPSR restricted data contract portal, which can be accessed via the <a
href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR34364.v1">study home page</a>.

Any public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public.
Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.

Universe:
Households in Camden, New Brunswick, Newark, Trenton, and Vineland, New Jersey with at least one child aged 3-18 years.

Data Types:
survey data

Data Collection Notes:

The data files include computed Body Mass Indices (BMI) for the adult respondent and 3-18 year old children.

Methodology

Sample:
Independent samples were drawn from each of the five cities using random-digit-dialing sampling with additional address-based sampling in New Brunswick. Altogether, 1,708 interviews were completed: 400 from Camden, 400 from Newark, 208 from New Brunswick, 400 from Trenton, and 300 from Vineland.

Mode of Data Collection:
computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI)

Response Rates:
The overall response rate was 49 percent.

Presence of Common Scales:
Body Mass Index

Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of
disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major
statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to
these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: